Share Paul’s Ambition

by | Oct 21, 2018

Twenty Second Sunday afetr Pentecost

  1. His goal was not to exert his own rights
  2. His goal was to benefit as many as possible
SERMON TEXT:  1 Corinthians 9:7-12, 19-23

What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat some of its fruit? Or who takes care of a flock and does not drink milk from the flock? Am I saying this just from a human point of view? Doesn’t the law also say this? Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain.” Is God really concerned about oxen, or does he say this entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher ought to thresh in hope of getting a share. If we sowed spiritual seed for your good, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? If others have some right to make this claim on you, don’t we even more? But we did not use this right. Instead, we endure everything so as not to cause any hindrance for the gospel of Christ. In fact, although I am free from all, I enslaved myself to all so that I might gain many more. To the Jews, I became like a Jew so that I might gain Jews. To those who are under the law, I became like a person under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those who are under the law. To those who are without the law, I became like a person without the law (though I am not without God’s law but am within the law of Christ) so that I might gain those who are without the law. To the weak, I became weak so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people so that I may save at least some. And I do everything for the sake of the gospel so that I may share in it along with others.

Bible Readings

FIRST LESSON:  2 Chronicles 26:16-23

But when he had grown powerful, the pride in his heart led to his destruction. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God. He entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest went in after him. He was followed by eighty priests of the LORD, brave men. They confronted King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, because you have been unfaithful. This action will not result in any praise for you from the LORD God.” Uzziah became angry. He had a censer for burning incense in his hand. When he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests, beside the altar of incense in the House of the LORD. When Azariah, the head priest, and all the other priests looked at him, they immediately realized he had leprosy on his forehead. They rushed him out of there. He himself also was in a hurry to leave because the LORD had struck him. King Uzziah remained a leper until the day of his death. He lived in a quarantined house because he was a leper. He was excluded from the House of the LORD. Jotham his son was in charge of the palace of the king and administered justice for the people of the land. The rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, were recorded by Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the burial field that belonged to the kings, because they said, “He is a leper.” His son Jotham ruled as king in his place.

SECOND LESSON:  1 Corinthians 9:7-12, 19-23

See Sermon Text

VERSE OF THE DAY:  Ephesians 2:10a

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

GOSPEL: Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we wish that you would do for us whatever we ask.” He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Promise that we may sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with?” “We can,” they replied. Jesus told them, “You will drink the cup that I am going to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with. But to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to give; rather, these places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they were angry with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But that is not the way it is to be among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”